Friday November 30th 2018

Improvement of Irrigation
University of Guelph AGR 1110
By Ranvir Sian

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Table of Context

Introduction Pg 3

Sensefly Pg 3

Product information Pg 4

Description Pg. 4

Materials Pg. 5

Costs Pg. 6

Cost related issues Pg. 7

Technology and Function Pg. 7

Patent Laws Pg. 8

The market types Pg. 8

Benefits to Canada Pg. 9

Disadvantages to Canada Pg.10

Contact information Pg. 11

Conclusion Pg.11

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Introduction:

Over the course of history, it has been a necessity for humans to be able to make or find

nutrients in which they could consume to stay healthy. To this date, this still occurs through the

form of farms and how they harvest and produce crops for everyone to consume to stay healthy.

As many centuries have gone by, there has been a slow decreasing rate of the number of people

that want to own or run farms (Barley et al. 2015). A large factor setting back farmers from

starting or running a farm is that many places around the world have poorly irrigated land. In

Canada, particularly Alberta, there is a large amount of farm land available, but the majority of

this farm land is either poorly irrigated or not irrigated at all (Barley et al. 2015). This report is

an examination of a specific product that aims to help maximize the use of farm lands within the

agricultural system in Alberta, Canada. This product aims to help improve irrigation installation

as well as maximize profits and productivity while producing crops. The product was uniquely

created to enhance the amount of irrigation channels that can possibly be installed on one plot of

land by the use of an agriculturally based drone. For this reason, there are many positive and

negative impacts of this product that will be analysed throughout this report, leading to a

conclusion determining whether this product is quintessential for Canadian agriculture.

Sensefly:

The original idea in which the agriculture-based drone was innovated from was designed

by a company named Sensefly. The company was founded by Henri Seydoux in 1994, with his

main focus around developing civil automotive drones (senseFly 2018). To this date, the CEO of

the company, Gilles Labossière, has helped improve Sensefly to concentrate on 3 main focuses

which employees are driven by; to be customer focused, supportive and proven (senseFly 2018).

Sensefly products are proud to be considered easy to use through the entire usage time.

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Sensefly’s current product line consist of three types of drones. Their first type of drone is called

the eBeeX, where the main focus is to be able to map without limit, also having a flight time of

90 minutes (senseFly 2018). Their second type of drone is called the eBee classic, where the

main focus is considered to map out land space, having a flight time of 50 minutes. Their third

and final type of drone is called the eBeeSQ, where the main focus is to capture crop data,

having a flight time of 55 minutes (senseFly 2018).

Product Information:

This product is uniquely designed to maximize farming land by determining the largest

possible amount of irrigation channels that could be installed. The original idea in which this

product was innovated from was from a company called Sensefly based in Cheseaux-sur-

Lausanne, Switzerland (senseFly 2018). Their main focus with agriculture based drones was to

use them for crop monitoring and crop analysis. Sensefly currently only has three different types

of drones in which none of them focusses on the improvement of irrigation but are driven

towards aspect of farming soil and crop production and health.

Description:

For this product, agriculture-based drones designed by Sensefly were innovated, therefore

they could be used to calculate the total number of irrigation channels that could be installed on

any farm land. By giving the agriculture-based drone a set route to follow, it would scan the

entire land given, then following this information it would map the maximum possible number of

irrigation channels that can be installed on the plot of land. The inspiration for this product was

due to the amount of available farmland in Alberta, Canada that has not been irrigated.

Therefore, this product was designed to efficiently determine the best way in which farmland

could be irrigated, while also being able to find out the total amount of possible irrigation

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channels that could be installed. With the innovation of this product, it is hopeful in helping to

create more jobs in Alberta, Canada as it would open up more farms, ultimately decreasing the

high unemployment rate there. (Barley et al. 2015).

Materials:

The agriculture-based drone consists of many different components that, when assembled

together, form the product (Corrigan 2018). Components such as;

1. Propellers: which aid in the flight of the drone, helping the drone move up, down,

forwards and back.

2. Brushless motors: they are more efficient and more dependable than a brushed motor,

which allows for a quieter motor overall.

3. Landing gear: When flying at high altitudes and even fast speeds, the landing gear

would help protect the drone when landing, leading to a longer lasting drone.

4. Main Body: houses the battery and many of the electrical internals, often an outer

shell made of plastic.

5. Flight controller: A system encased in the main body which allows for steering and

functionality of the drone.

6. GPS module: Encased in the main body, allowing for the drone to be tracked

throughout its route.

7. Battery: throughout the route, the drone will receive its power from the battery

8. Camera: To capture data when mapping out irrigation channels

9. Sensors: for scanning and mapping out the ground and also for avoiding collisions

with anything else in the air.

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Many of these components are used to assemble the agriculture-based drone innovated from

Sensefly.

Costs:

In terms of producing the agriculture-based drone, the process and time that is taken to

build the drone requires a fair amount of management to make sure the quality of the product is

up to standard. On the other hand, the commercial production allows for farmers to find the

agriculture-based drone very low in maintenance, requiring minimal amount of work to maintain

the drone. In the market of drones, they can vary in price (Nixon 2018), but for the agriculture-

based drone, it would retail for $2000 CAD per unit. Depending on the location of where you

live, the price of the drone and its shipping price may vary as well. For example, shipping from

the manufacture headquarters in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland to Alberta, Canada would

cost a grand total of $562.46 (refer to figure 1) on top of the buying price to ship and import to

Canada.

Figure 1 (Ana 2018)

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Cost Related Issues:

As the industry and production of agriculture-based drones is a such a niche and

upcoming market, it becomes difficult to construct the invention at a very cheap retail price. The

retail price of $2000 for the drone can be seen as a steep price to pay. When constructing the

drone, the retail price of $2000 can be considered the cheapest value for the product, being fair to

both the consumers and the producers. Even though the drone has an expensive cost per unit, it is

marketed at $2000 as there are many features which the agriculturally-based drone can do that

many other drones cannot do. Having a high retail price may also have a negative impact

depending on where you live. If the exchange rate does not benefit the consumer, they could end

up paying more than $2000 CAD depending on the location that they are buying or shipping the

product from or to, respectively.

Technology and Function:

The technology of the agriculturally-based drone was developed to give you the most

detailed description of the land you are mapping but also making the user experience as friendly

as possible. The drone has two different ways in which it can fly. Option one would be to

program the route of the drone and input it into the drone using the drone software. Option two

gives you the ability to fly your drone freely on your own manual, controlling where it goes. The

drone also has three different abilities in which it can be told to fly. The first ability would be the

most ideal for any on the road footage, by using the app that can be downloaded on your smart

phone called “AGR drone”. This will allow for easy access to the drone as most of the world’s

population has smartphones (Fact Sheet 2018). The only down side to flying while using the app

is that, depending on your phone, it may be hard to control the drone. The second ability would

be ideal for when you need to map out a large area in which you could use the computer software

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to get a more in-depth mapping outcome. The only disadvantage when flying while using the

computer software is that there are more components to use when taking it on the go, therefore

making the portability somewhat harder. The last ability would be ideal in all situations as you

can fly the drone with the controller given which would not be that much bigger than an average

smartphone. The only disadvantage of the controller would be that it would not give an as in-

depth report compared to when using the computer software. The drone has many options of

flight patterns to map out the correct amount of irrigation channels that can be installed, therefore

the decision is yours as it all comes down to which option you are more comfortable with.

Patent and Laws:

Every commodity created, developed or made in Canada depends on some type of licensing

patent system. Drones flown in Canada must comply with drone flight regulations regarding to

drones falling under a certain weight to be flown without paying any fines. When flying drones

in Canada, users would have to follow these rules:

1. Drones cannot be flown higher than 300 feet

2. Drones must remain within 500 meters of the user

3. Cannot fly at night or in clouds

If any of these rules are broken when flying, a user could face up to a 3000$ CAD fine (GC

2018).

The market type:

The market for drones is very large as many social medias use drones as the new trend to

attract consumers. Drones are often used to capture beautiful scenery and breath taking

landscapes often used on social media platforms such as Instagram or YouTube. On the other

hand, agriculturally-based drones are a very niche and up and coming market that is on the rise

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for the years to come. Looking at Alberta, Canada alone where the average famers age is 55

years old (Barley et al. 2015), this shows how the technology use for drones would be a big

change for old fashion farmers. With the development of agriculturally-based drones, a market

that has not been explored in detail, the development of drones would make starting up a new

farm for younger famers much easier. Hopefully with the use of our drones, young famers will

realize that starting up a farm is not as difficult as they would imagine. With drones becoming

such a large trend in younger generations, when they see it in the agriculture system, we hope

they are enticed to learn more. With the innovation of the agriculture-based drone, the target in

which the drone was designed for is for farmlands with large amount of land area that need

installation of irrigation. In this case, the target market would be for people in Alberta, Canada as

it has plenty of land that has not yet been irrigated (Barley et al. 2015). Therefore, this product

would largely be beneficial to famers in Alberta.

Benefits to Canada:

In today’s society, with drones becoming more popular, they could have a large impact,

not only for recreational use but for something much bigger. As drones are becoming easier to

use, it allows for development and usage in the agriculture industry. The development of

agriculture-based drones can help benefit Western Canada, in particularly Alberta, Canada. The

largest aspect in which this can be seen as a benefit is the way it can help the Canadian economy.

With drones appealing to younger generations, it could help the economy as it would attract

more of today’s youth in Alberta to invest in the agriculture industry. With the help of the

younger generations and their mind sets about running farms, this could lead to an increase in

jobs for citizens of Alberta. An increase in the amount of number of irrigated farms in Alberta

would help decrease the high unemployment rate as it would create more jobs for people.

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Another aspect in which agriculture-based drones can be seen as beneficial to Canada would be

the overall efficiency and production time of the drones. Having the ability to map out and

calculate the maximum amount of irrigation channels allows for the drone to save farmers time

and money. Furthermore, it will allow farmers to be more productive by maximizing their

farmland. Having a high efficiency rate would lead to a more productive economy as it would be

easier for farmers to take care of and manage their crops.

Disadvantages to Canada:

The negative impacts that this product has when facing Canada is due to the older

generations of famers in Alberta (Barley et al. 2015). Having a large number of older famers

would create a difficult adjustment for those would have to comply with new techniques. The use

of agriculture-based drones would come with a large amount of new skills to learn involving

technology that may be difficult for some or most farmers. Many farmers would have to adapt to

new processes and move on from their traditional ways. Due to many farmers who are used to

their traditional ways, it may be a large disadvantage when it comes to selling agriculture-based

drones towards old fashion famers. Another disadvantage that could affect Canada would be the

amount of laws and patents drone users must follow when operating a drone. When it comes to

the use of drones there is a large set number of rules users must follow (GC 2018). Often rules

are very simple such as: a drone may not fly any higher than 500 meters. Therefore, as long as

users follow these rules, there would be no need to consider this a disadvantage. When it comes

to not following the rules, this is where it becomes a disadvantage. If a user does not follow one

or any of the rules listed while operating an agriculture-based drone, they could be fined with a

fine worth up to 3000$ CAD (GC 2018). Therefore, following and/or knowing all the rules of

flying a drone before using one is a key component to using an agriculture-based drone.

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Furthermore, a disadvantage that can be seen towards Canada is that people will have to learn

how to use the drone because it is new technology that many are not familiar with. For example,

when it comes to the computer software, people will have to learn how to use it to retrieve and

identify exactly what they need. Even though it will not take long to learn how to use it, there is

still a small learning disadvantage when it comes to using the drone for the first time.

Contact Information:

As stated previously through the report, Sensefly is a company based out of Cheseaux-

sur-Lausanne in Switzerland. Much of the research for drone research and improvements are

done in the main headquarters in Switzerland. Besides the main headquarters Sensefly, also has

other offices in Raleigh, NC, USA Miami, FL, USA Fort Dodge, IA, USA, Shanghai, China,

Melbourne, VIC, Australia (senseFly 2018). Sensefly can be reached at the following address:

Sensefly

Route de Genève 38

1033 Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne

Switzerland

Tel: +41-21-552-04-40

E-mail: support@sensefly.com

Conclusion:

In order to establish the necessity and potency, it is critical for a company to perform a

SWOT analysis of their product. A SWOT analysis is a breakdown of a company’s products

which includes (S)strengths, (W)weaknesses, (O)opportunity and (T)threats.

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Strengths of agriculturally-based drones offer increased productivity and efficiency when it

comes to the installation of irrigation. The drones have the ability to map out the total area of the

farmland given, thus, saving farmers time when it comes to figuring out the maximum number of

channels they could have installed.

Weaknesses of agriculturally-based drones are that they have restrictions on when they can be

used and flown. Depending on severe weather, the drone cannot be flown during conditions such

as heavy rain and/or heavy snow. Also, since farms can be very far away from satellite towers, it

could make it difficult to connect to the drone, considering there will not be a strong signal.

Opportunities with agriculturally-based drones are endless as they provide many benefits to the

location in which they are used. For example, in Alberta, Canada the use of agriculture-based

drones would create more jobs and therefore would be an easier method for people to irrigate

their farms. This would be easier for individuals in these areas to start up a farm, which would

allow for an increase in employment.

Threats that revolve around agriculture-based drones is that they fall under a small market

making it hard for many people to know about. Having such a small market means any

competition could take away all business from the company if they can manufacture a product

for a much cheaper retail cost.

To summarize, agriculture-based drones can be seen to be a small market that could help

low income provinces in Canada, like Alberta which has lots of unirrigated land in which can be

seen as wasted farmland (Barley et al. 2015). Agriculture-based drones can help lower the high

unemployment rate in Alberta by creating more jobs and reducing their high unemployment

percentage. Looking towards the future, agriculture-based drones could be a pivotal game

changer in the agriculture industry.

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That being said, the best method that this product can be effectively used in today’s society,

would be to open the eyes of traditional farmers. Targeting old-fashioned farmers by convincing

them that that agriculture-based drones are the most productive and efficient method to install

irrigation channels will bring out the best outcome for this product. Having the support of the

traditional farmers would show how the back bone of the industry understands the drone’s value

and importance in the agriculture industry. In conclusion, agriculture-based drones would

drastically help improve the quality of life for new up and coming farmers in Alberta, Canada.

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